Ben Rivers, PhD, RDT-BCT, APTT

Ben Rivers PhD, RDT-BCT, APTT is an educator, psychotherapist, and social entrepreneur.  He specializes in the use of therapeutic and participatory theatre for community mobilization and collective trauma response. He has taught and practiced in Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East and North America, working extensively with communities impacted by structural oppression and political violence. He is a founding member of The Freedom Theatre’s Freedom Bus initiative (Jenin Refugee Camp, Occupied Palestine), a Co-founder of the Arab School of Playback Theatre (Adonis, Lebanon) and Executive Director of Dawar Kitchen and Dawar for Arts and Development (Cairo, Egypt). He holds a Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology with a concentration in Drama Therapy from the California Institute of Integral Studies, USA and a PhD in Peace Studies from the University of New England, Australia. He is a Registered Drama Therapist and Board Certified Trainer with the North American Drama Therapy Association and an Accredited Playback Theatre Trainer through the Centre for Playback Theatre, New York. He is currently based in Cairo, Egypt.